Melody, Bari Girl
by Tory Must Write
Summary: A freshman girl moves from her beloved hometown to her new town, right before band camp. How will she adjust to her new band? Can she help a new friend overcome his past to move on? Will the senior bari player ever learn she lives up to his standards?
1. Welcome to Hell Week

_A/N: I like this story, but I don't know if I should continue it. Reviews are very much appreciated!_

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The thickly-muscled boy stood in front of the group of us, a bari sax harness around him, his hands clasped behind his back. I couldn't help myself from shuddering under the gaze I could feel radiating from under his apparently designer sunglasses. He whipped them off his tanned face, showing the group the very pale area around his equally pale blue eyes. When he spoke, his voice was deep and booming, a voice that both commanded and demanded attention.

"Welcome to Hell Week." He gave a small smirk as the two other freshmen tittered.

I, on the other hand, stayed silent. I _had_ endured the true Hell Week back at Valley-Center. There was an odd clutching feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I brushed it off. I missed my old school, my old band, and especially my old friends. I felt my eyes mist up as I thought of the sax section leader at Valley-Center, Calvin. He had been my best friend since I was in seventh grade, him in his freshman year. I loved that kid like a brother.

"I wasn't kidding." The older boy said in his creepy voice. "This is the worst week you will ever endure in your life, unless you decide to join us again next season." He spread his lips in a grimace.

An older-looking girl with dusty red hair stood up in the front and turned to face the eight of us that were sitting on the parched grass. "Since your head section leader jerk hasn't bothered to introduce ourselves…" The girl looked over her shoulder at the boy and gave him a big smile. "Love you too, babe. Your head section leader back there is Jesse M, co-section leader. I'm a senior as well, and I'm on alto. Now why don't we go around and introduce ourselves? Yeah, returning veterans, I know this is old hat to you. Deal with it."

Angela sat down, as she gestured for the boy next to her to stand up. He stood shakily, his long brown hair covering his face the entire time he spoke. "I'm Jasper Cook. This is my third year in marching band, because I'm a junior. I play tenor, because it's the coolest. Yeah."

A chubby boy with curly blonde hair stood up before Jasper even had a chance to settle down on the grass. "I'm Ethan Baum. I play alto. This is my third year of marching band, second year on alto. Yes, I am one of those weird guys who were originally on clarinet. Shut up." He gave a hearty smile as he sat down.

Next to stand up were three almost-identical boys, save for their hair and the clothes on their backs. The first to speak had on a black t-shirt and cargo shorts with black sneakers, his hair jet-black like night. "I'm Evan Mack. I'm a sophomore, and I play alto. Out of the three of us Mack boys, I'm the coolest. You better believe it."

The middle boy in the line had on a white t-shirt that read _Lincoln Heights Jazz Ensemble _and blue jeans with dirt-stained white sneakers. He had curly light brown hair with a white baseball cap with a LH embroidered on the front. "I'm Joey Mack. Oldest of the three of us boys, and I play tenor. Saxophone is my life."

I felt my heart skip a beat when the third of the boys began to speak. His blue jeans shorts were held up by a large black belt and he had on the same t-shirt as Joey. He had hair the same shade as Joey's, long enough so it just barely tickled his chin. "I'm Tyler Mack. I play alto, and I'm the youngest. I really love playing sax, even though I can play almost anything you hand me. So, um, yeah… Hi." He scratched the back of his neck, looking down at the scuffed toes of his red high-tops.

"And now onto my little freshmen." Angela smiled, and I felt my heart calm down.

The girl to the left of me stood up. Her corkscrewed brown hair bounced all around as she swayed from side to side. "I'm Jaime Gray, and I've been playing saxophone since I was in eighth grade, so I'm already freaking amazing, and I play alto and it's awesome!" She clapped her hands together as she plopped back on the ground.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. How could somebody that annoyingly hyper and _Valley Girl_ be in our section? It seemed like I was going to have some personality conflicts with that girl.

I saw the boy to the right of me rise out of the corner of my eye. He spoke in a calm and steady voice, his eyes dark beneath his red hair. "I'm Wren Cartier, and I play tenor. I can't wait to start marching."

I finally stood, feeling my heart skip around as everyone looked at me. I took a deep breath and said, "Hi. I'm Melody Cadence Williamson. I've been playing sax since I was six. Marching band is my favorite sport."

As I crashed back down to the ground, Angela asked sweetly, "Which sax you play, hun?"

"Oh." I felt myself blushing. "I play bari."

She gave me a small smile as she said, "Sorry, hun. Our school only has one bari and Jesse gets it."

I gave her an even larger smile. "Oh, no. It's okay. My dad owned the music store in Rica Valley, my old town, and he gave me my own bari for my Bat Mitzvah."

"Oh." Angela was stunned into silence.

Out of nowhere, I heard the frightening voice again, and my eyes fell on Jesse. "We only let the best play the bari."

I couldn't hold back my tongue before I said, "I _am_ the best! I was the only eighth-grader ever to get into District Jazz. I've been playing saxophone for eight years. My dad taught me everything he knows, and I want to be just like him!"

Angela sighed. "Jesse, don't get started with arguments. This girl has got what it takes. She's what she says she is. We're going to let her play bari."

"How do you she's good?" Jesse hissed, pale eyes narrowing.

"I know." Angela said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

The older boy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest with a sullen look on his face. Angela gave him one last glance and then clapped her hands together once, making it echo around the dry empty space around the oak tree that we were all settled under.

"Okay." She said, her voice suddenly taking a slightly more business-like tone. "See the edge of the building over there?"

She pointed off into the distance, to the red brick building that was partially obscured by trees. "That's the school. We're going to run there, touch the wall, and run back. Three times. It's like laps for us. So everyone get up. Today, we're just going to cover the marching basics that we're going to need for our show. And we'll show you rookies how to march with your respective sax. So let's get going!"

I stood right away, used to the old way everyone in Valley-Center would spring up lithely when a command was given. I was surprised when a few people lagged behind on the ground, save for the Mack triplets. They, like me, sprung up right away. "Angela said _get up_!" Jesse screamed, putting his sunglasses back on.

The remaining four jumped up quickly then, frightened of the wrath that was Jesse McGowan. "Okay, now pace yourselves." Angela said in a tone much different than the male section leader's. "And let's go."

I set off at a crisp jog, and I could already feel my legs groaning under the strain. Sure, my arms were strong, but that didn't mean my lower appendages were the same. I saw somebody out of the corner of my eye, and I heard a familiar voice say, "So you play bari?"

"Yeah." I gave Tyler a small smile. "I really love bari. So you like alto?"

"I guess. I wish I could play tenor, but Joey laid claim to ours. I played the bari back at Lincoln Heights, because I used the school one. I really miss Lincoln Heights." A frown crossed his face, darkening his eyes.

I wiped my brow and responded, "I really miss Valley-Center. My best friend in the entire world was my section leader back there. He was the coolest."

"I'm actually really surprised about the section here." Tyler said, looking off into space. "There were only four of us back at Lincoln Heights. And then my family moves to Kelsey Junction, and there are ten! It's insane!"

I gave him a grin. "My marching band at home had three altos, a tenor, and me on bari. I liked it way better. But whatever. So who were your friends back at Lincoln Heights?"

An odd look passed over Tyler's face, but it was gone in an instant. "Well, I barely had any friends. I had about… four true friends. Kris, Carrie, Nick, and John. They were the best people you could ever ask to know. We were totally inseparable. And then some really bad things happened and… We grew apart."

"Like what?" I could feel myself overstepping boundaries, but I didn't care.

He sighed as we both touched the red brick and then turned around to go back towards the oak tree. He looked out into the distance, seeing things buried in his past. "The five of us were coming home from going mini-golfing, because we all played mallets for Indoor Drumline and we were like four brothers and a sister. Nick was driving. It was really dark, and raining, so he pulled over onto the side of the road until the conditions got better."

"He pulled over?" I couldn't help butting in, confusion plastered clearly all over my face.

Tyler sighed. "Yeah, Nick pulled over. He didn't want to risk any of our lives by driving in crap like that. So we were all just sitting there, talking and singing and stuff. Then this big Mack truck comes blaring up behind us, with the headlights turned way down so you could barely see two feet in front of it. Carrie was sitting shotgun, and since she was turned around talking to us, she saw it first. She started screaming, and at that point it was too late."

I felt my heart leap up in my throat, and I made a sputtering noise. Tyler gave me an odd look, and then continued. "She was the only one of us who died on impact, because we were pushed right into a guardrail on the right side, where she was sitting. Nick died at the hospital from his injuries. And Kris killed himself two weeks later, because he had just given up on everything. John and I grew apart because we didn't want to have to relive that all again."

I felt my heart stop in my chest. "Oh my God." The tears were building up behind my eyes. "How did you live through that?"

He didn't say anything as we rounded the tree. I saw water tracing down his face from his chocolate eyes. "I really don't know. It was just pure luck that saved me and John. But to lose three of the people I cared about most… That was the most hell-ish thing I've ever had to go through. And, because of that, I never want to go back."

I was totally silent. How could somebody that seemed so cheerful have gone through things like that and lived to bear witness to them? I swallowed and then spoke up softly. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks for your sympathy." I could tell he wasn't sorry at all, but the words were just blooming fake on his lips. "So what was your old school like?"

"I was friends with everyone in my section." I smiled slightly, thinking back to the old memories. "My best friend is a junior this year. His name was Calvin and he was section leader since I was in seventh grade and he was in his freshman year. I was the only girl out of the five of us, and I marched the biggest sax. I was always the youngest. I loved those guys like my brothers, and they had my back through everything. I miss them so much."

"I know exactly what you mean." Tyler said darkly as we touched the red brick building again. "I wish I could move back… But I really don't want to have to deal with all those memories again. Plus it didn't help that my bus went past the spot every day. It drove me insane with hate and fear and worry and pain."

"Hurry up!" Jesse's voice called as we rounded the tree. "You better be going into your second lap already!"

"Third, actually." Tyler's voice was calm, with just a hint of ice behind it.

As we sped away, he muttered, "I really don't like that kid. He's nothing like my section leader back at home."

"Yeah, mine either." I sighed, yet again thinking of Calvin.

"My section leader back home… He was the coolest. We were the only totally guy section in the entire marching band. It was one of the most fun things I've ever been involved in, in my entire life." He said, touching the brick wall.

"I really miss my marching band. I wish they all could have moved here with me." I smiled at the thought of most of the Valley-Center band moving here to Kelsey Junction with me. "My band at home had finally broken a hundred members this year, and I had to move before I could see any of that. It sucks!"

Tyler's eyes bulged as he looked at me with an odd look plastered on his face. "_A hundred_? Holy carp! My band at my old school had fifty in a really, _really_ good year. Last year, there was a grand total of twelve woodwinds."

I tried to do the math quickly in my head. "There were… Five assorted saxes, ten normal clarinets, nine flutes, three piccolos, an alto clarinet, and two bass clarinets. So there were… thirty woodwinds."

Tyler's jaw fell open in astonishment. "That's freaking insane! I wish we could've _ever_ had that many woodwinds! That was my whole band back at home, save for guard and drumline. That's totally bananas!"

I felt myself smiling as we collapsed beneath the old oak tree, a thin coating of sweat across my brow. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, shut my eyes slowly, and leaned back, exhaling smoothly.

Tyler crashed to the ground beside me, and he immediately picked a dry blade of grass out of the ground, blowing on it between his fingers. Angela came puffing over, her rust-colored hair streaming behind her. She caught most of it in between her hands and, while speaking, attempted to tie it back. "Go to wherever your stuff is. Get it. Put your saxes together, and then come back out here."

I stood up quickly, offering Tyler a hand to help him stand. He accepted it and pulled himself upright. As we walked back towards the school, I heard a deep voice call out.

"Welcome to Hell Week, noobs!"


	2. A Look Into Our Pasts

Tyler and I hurried towards the school. "So where do you keep your bari?" He asked, glancing over at me.

"I put it right in that hallway as soon as you walk in the main doors. So I will have to circle around that way. So if your alto is somewhere else…"

"Nah, it's right beside the main doors." He gave me a small smile as we walked past the back of the red brick building, circling around to the front. "This school is way too big. I'm going to get lost on the first day of school, and I am probably just going to go to the band room to hide out."

"I might be joining you then." I gave a small chuckle. "I want my old school back. It was smaller, but not too small. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Tyler's eyes glazed over for a brief moment. "My old school was like half this size. The biggest graduating class we ever had was ninety-three kids, but that was a huge year. Usually the classes have about sixty-five kids, on average."

I felt my jaw pop open. "My school was smaller than this, by about half. But we had around a hundred kids in every grade, and I thought we were a small school! But about a sixth of the entire school was in marching band, and there were about a hundred and fifty kids in concert band."

Tyler scratched the back of his neck, a blush spreading up to his face. "Yeah, our marching band had around… a tenth of the school. And concert band had around sixty kids in it. All the sports teams seemed more important at my old school, even the baseball team that sucked and the track team that never went to any meets."

I gave a small smile of pity, trying to imagine a place where marching band fell behind everything else. Even behind things as mundane as baseball or track. The thought couldn't rise to my mind. Our band programs were always well-provided for, and almost any time our old director asked for new equipment, we were granted it. The best time had been when our Jazz Band had traveled to New York City to play. I had loved hanging out with my older friends on that trip. Plus we had gotten to see two shows on Broadway, which almost gave me a heart attack.

"Melody?" I saw a hand wave around in front of my face, and then a light chuckle. "Somebody's being a tad bit spacey today."

I gave a light laugh, shaking my head to myself minutely. "I'm always that spacey. My old section leader used to tease me for it and let it slide, but the old drum major would give me laps for it. He hated me."

"Awe, don't say that." Tyler put his arm around my shoulder, walking in step with me. "How could anybody hate you?"

I grimaced at the thought of the old drum major, the hateful senior he was. My face gave a twitch as I let the horrible memory surface.

It was the first day of band camp, eighth grade, and my last year at Valley-Center, though I didn't know it at the time. I felt the small beads of sweat blooming on my forehead, feeling the weight of the bari pulling down my entire left arm, almost allowing the case to drag along the concrete outside the steps into the music wing.

I gave a huff of a sigh as I mounted the steps, finally reaching the top. I opened one of the large double doors, almost to smack into somebody, not being able to tell who it was but still able to see the shine and keys of a saxophone. I was rebounded, and looked up into the smiling eyes of Calvin. I couldn't prevent the huge grin from spreading across my face. I set down my sax case and wrapped my arms around his torso in a huge hug. "I missed you, bro." I felt my smile widening past the breaking point.

"I missed you too, little sis." I could feel him smiling into the top of my hair. "Guess who got head section leader this year?"

"Yay!" I began jumping up and down. "What happened to Ste-"

"He got head drum major." A grimace passed over Calvin's child-like features.

I stopped, mid-jump, and I felt my eyes widen. "Steve is replacing my brother as head drum major? What the hell is wrong with Mr. Camden?"

Calvin looked down at me, seeing the rage spreading across my face. "I know you hate Steve. It's okay, since almost everyone does. But at least you don't have to deal with him as much as you did last year. Oops." He had shifted his feet and accidentally bumped his toe against my sax case. "Oh my God! Is that a bari?"

I let out a tad bit of a girly shriek and clapped my hands together. "Yes, yes, yes! My dad let me pick out the bari for my Bat Mitzvah! I was so excited! It plays great."

"Name it yet?" There was a hopeful light behind Calvin's blue eyes.

"Nah, not yet." I gave him a tiny smile. "I wanted to wait until camp to have a christening ceremony."

"We must name it Carl!" He cried, throwing both his hands in the air, letting his tenor sax dangle from his neck strap. He placed his right hand, fingers facing towards me, on his upper lip. He began to wiggle his fingers around, and in a high-pitched voice, he said, "I have a moustache! And my moustache's name is Carl!"

I picked up my sax case, and we both turned around to walk into the music wing, but were stopped by a towering figure. He had his arms crossed over his chest, whistle dangling directly above his arms. His pale blonde hair was hidden under his marching band cap, puny arms sticking out from the sleeves of his white band t-shirt like two twigs, his legs white as his shirt from under his blue jean shorts.

"Calvin. Good job getting section leader. You have a lot to live up to. I hope the saxes don't suffer under your skills." The older boy said icily.

"Steve, we'll do just fine and you know it." Calvin gave a huff of a sigh as he put his right hand on his hip.

"That's what they all say, Calvin. And I don't want the saxes to be sub-par. You _are_ going to win Section of the Year, like you have for the past two years, under my leadership. You better hold up to the traditions." He gave my best friend a once-over, his nose wrinkling in disgust. He then looked at me, and his unforgiving gray eyes widened. His voice boomed out and echoed around us, "Put that saxophone away. Now. Why did you take it?"

"It's _mine_!" I couldn't help the accusing tone from seeping into my voice.

"No, it's not. Bari isn't for weak little girls. Why would you have one?"

I felt Calvin's hand on my shoulder, tightening his grip, begging silently for me to not lose my temper. "I'm not weak, Steve. You know that for a fact. I'm way stronger than I look. I've been playing the bari all summer. I'm going to play it, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Is that what you say, Williamson?" His voice rose in volume, louder than I was used to. "Well, for that attitude… Five laps around the school!"

"We never give anyone more than three laps, Steve." Calvin said in a pleading voice. "You know that. It was you that made that rule."

"I made the rules, so I can change them." His face broke into a sneer. "And you better keep quiet, Calvin, or you know for a fact your section leadership can be taken away faster than you can play the B flat concert scale. Now, Williamson, go, or I'll up you laps. Leave your sax for Calvin to take inside."

I felt the heat reach my face, and I vowed myself that I wouldn't start screaming. So I calmly set down the bari case, took a few deep breaths, and took off a slow jog. "Faster, Williamson!" Steve's voice carried through the dry air. "Don't make me up your laps!"

The tears were ready to pour out of my eyes as I turned my head and saw Steve stride the whole way back into the music wing, Calvin following dejectedly behind him like some horrible lackey. I didn't even feel like wiping the tears away from my cheeks, feeling my rage built up, knowing I had to let it out somehow.

That was the first day I knew for certain I hated Steve Carleey, junior, alto saxophone player turned drum major, and a general pain in my ass.

"Melody?" I heard an already-familiar voice say through a chuckle, "Are Mondays your days to space out superbly or something? You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I wiped the back of my hand under my eyes, making sure all the trace amounts of salty tears were gone. "I was just remembering something painful."

As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I cringed to myself. How could something painful to me compare to the pain Tyler had gone through? He was quiet as he pulled open the door into the hallway where there were dozen of instrument cases piled. As he opened his mouth to speak, I thought he was going to make a comment about pain, but instead he said, "I wonder where all the other sections went. I see a ton of different kinds of cases in here."

I let out a breath of relief, glad that he had avoided his own painful topic. "I don't know, actually. They are probably hanging out around this school somewhere. You could probably wander around here for over an hour and never set foot in the same hallway."

"Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one." Tyler muttered, walking over to a group of sax cases.

I tagged behind him, watching as he went down on one knee to examine the tags sticking off from the cases. I walked a bit further down the hallway and saw my bari case sandwiched in between a huge pile of trombone cases and what appeared to be a tower of clarinet cases. I grasped the handle for the case and carefully maneuvered my way out from between the precariously placed instruments.

I walked back over and kneeled beside Tyler as he opened the latches on a case with peeling edges. He took out the alto, sitting down on the ground, sax in his lap. I pulled up the Velcro on the side of my case, and I took a deep breath as I let the case fall open, revealing my sax.

Tyler glanced over as I inhaled, and his eyes lit up as they saw my sax. "Dude, it's times like this I wish I had learned how to play the bari. That's freakin' amazing. How did your dad find one of those?"

"He owned the music shop back in my old town. He gave woodwind lessons, too. He's my hero. I love him a lot." I said, taking out the neck and shining it on the hem of my shirt. "What about your dad?"

Tyler swallowed and glanced over at me. "My dad…" He stopped, and blinked for a moment. "My dad isn't around anymore. My mother isn't with us anymore either. Our entire family was coming home from a trip to the beach three summers ago. My dad and my mother were in the front seat. Joey and I were in the middle row, the one with the gap in between the seats. Evan was in the back, right behind me, and Brie was in the middle of the back seat, but she wasn't buckled in because it made her feels nauseous."

"Brie? Who's Brie?" Confusion pierced my voice.

Tyler looked over at me with a hard, pained look on his face. "Brie was our younger sister. She would have been going into eighth grade this year."

"Oh." I felt my face drop as I got my reed out of the case.

"Something happened… To this day, none of us know exactly what happened. But one minute, we were driving along down the freeway. The next thing we know, our van is at the bottom of a ravine, and it seems like the entire world is on fire around us. The last thing I remember was Brie flying past me and I heard the windshield shatter. Then… Everything was gone."

He paused in his recollection to rub his clenched fist under his right eye. "When I woke up, my dad's parents were standing there, bawling. That was the worst time of my life. We went to live with them up until this past year, when Gram died and Gramps didn't think he could take care of us anymore. So we had to come live with our other grandparents here. I really wish-"

But he cut himself off when the door opened, and we both busied ourselves around our cases. "Hurry up, you two. You should have been ready by now." Jesse boomed as I pulled on my neck strap and put my reed on my mouthpiece.

Reaching into the case, I pulled out the bari with my right hand under the thumb rest, bringing it up and allowing it to click on my neck strap. I stood up quickly, letting my case shut itself behind me.

"Go back outside to warm up." Jesse sneered at me from beneath his sunglasses, the right side of his lips curling up to near his nose.

I brushed right past him, carefully pushing my mouthpiece to the position where I knew it would be tuned.

As I walked back towards the tree, I began playing part of the song I had played to get into District Jazz back at Valley-Center, the song I had played so much I had memorized it. I felt the sax thrum under my fingers, since it had only been picked it up once since we had moved into the new house a month ago. I hadn't realized the withdrawal I had been having until that very instant.

Jesse's eyes were boring holes into my back, I could tell that even from this distance. But who cared? The smile playing at the corners of my mouth widened.

Take that one, Jesse McGowan.

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_A/N: Reviews and_ _constructive criticism are really_ _appreciated. I will give you metaphorical cookies! Plus, I finally discovered I am not the only bandie at my school who is on here. *Cough*Tab*Cough* ;D_


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